Writer Albayrak Acquitted

Hakan Albayrak, the former writer for the "Milli Gazete" (National Newspaper), who was sentenced to 15 months in prison for "insulting Ataturk," was released after serving his term.

Albayrak was sentenced to prison based on law no: 5816 on "Crimes Against Ataturk," which remained outside the reach of Harmonization Laws. He was released from the Ankara Kalecik Prison on November 13 after serving for six months. Albayrak had been arrested on May 20.

He was convicted although he apologized

Albayrak was charged for writing, "Mustafa Kemal Pasha was buried without funeral prayers. And neither the state, nor the people were disturbed by this," in his article titled, "A Funeral Prayer," and published on June 20, 2000.

Before charges were brought against him, Albayrak apologized in his next article for errors in the article titled, "A Funeral Prayer." However both Albayrak, and editor-in-chief Mehmet Terzi were sentenced to 15 months in prison. The Supreme Court of Appeals later upheld the sentence handed to Albayrak and asked that Terzi's prison sentence is commuted to a fine. (EO/BB/EA/YE)